World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (October 22-24, 2011)

The Washington Post reported that US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Iran on Sunday that the planned U.S. withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq by the end of the year should not be mistaken for a lack of commitment to democracy in the region. In an interview from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, her last stop on a four-nation tour of the region, Clinton conceded that Iraq’s stability is not ensured. Pressed by multiple interviewers on the Sunday morning talk shows as to whether the withdrawal would open Iraq to greater influence from Iran, Clinton offered a warning: “Iran would be badly miscalculating if they did not look at the entire region and all of our presence in many countries in the region, both in bases [and] in training, with NATO allies, like Turkey,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

The other article published by the same information agency is devoted to the earthquake, which took place in Turkey. Four people were pulled alive from the rubble Monday when one managed to call for help on his cell phone after a 7.2-magnitude quake leveled buildings and killed some 270 people in eastern Turkey. Dozens of people were trapped in mounds of concrete, twisted steel and construction debris after hundreds of buildings in two cities and mud-brick homes in nearby villages pancaked or partially collapsed in the earthquake that struck Sunday afternoon.

“Turkey and Iran Agree to Cooperate Against Kurdish Rebels on Borders” is an article published by The New York Times. It says that Turkey and Iran agreed Friday to cooperate against separatist Kurdish violence along their borders, while thousands of Turkish troops began the second day of a major offensive against Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey and Iraq. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, speaking at a news conference with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi, said Turkey and Iran would share intelligence and convene a joint security council. “We will work together in a common action plan until we entirely eradicate this threat of terrorism,” Mr. Davutoglu said.

The Turkish information agency Hurriyet Daily News published the article headlined “World reacts to earthquake in eastern Turkey.” It says that many countries from all over the world offered help and condolences to Turkey after an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale hit the eastern province of Van on Sunday. At least 217 people were killed and 700 others were wounded, while 970 buildings were demolished in the earthquake. The United States, Britain, Greece, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Israel, Ireland, Poland, Hungary, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Georgia, China, Ukraine, Russia, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Iran, Kosovo, the EU, NATO and the U.N. offered to help Turkey after the earthquake. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen also released a statement showing support in the wake of the disaster, stating: ""NATO stands ready to assist our ally Turkey, if needed."

The Iranian information agency reported that Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has lashed out at the US and Israel for exerting negative influence on European Union ties with Tehran, urging the EU to adopt an “independent foreign policy.”  Iran expects the European Union to follow up an “independent foreign policy” and to not permit the US and the Israeli regime to take advantage of European bodies to provoke hostility towards the Islamic Republic, said Salehi in a message to a two-day conference on Iran-Europe relations in the Iranian capital of Tehran on Monday. Europe has lost opportunities for cooperation with Iran as it has pursued US policies, he added and stressed that the US and Europe seek to promote Iranophobia and portray a misleading image of the Islamic Republic. However, European countries should know that they can play a “more serious, constructive and positive” role at the current situation in the world, he pointed out.